Cease wrote:June 11 is creeping like a nun. June 12 US v. ENG match-up I'm actually pumped for already. Watched a You-tube thread of Clint Dempsey highlights and I've got high hopes for him this time around.

If anyone knows of a bar that is advertising "Showing all WC games," or "Watch the US team play here," or I'd even settle for a "We like soccer," please post to this site.

I'm gonna be in Amsterdam for the England v Algeria game as well as for Holland's game against Japan

I'm looking forward to world cup fever in another country surrounded by Dutch hookers

it's gonna be marvellous

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

For the first time ever I'm looking forward to watching as much of this as I can.

I blame my kids for this added viewing obligation. The more I watch the game and the more I'm around people who know it, love it and understand it (and who played it at a high level) the more I find myself enjoying it.

Probably dvr the game against England since I run a good chance of not hearing anyone talk about it at work.

Missing most games, as I can't access ESPN3 at work. DVR will be burned out by July 1. This cup's agreement with ESPN brings us all games- I believe that's a first? Most games on ESPN, ESPN2 has some in prime time when conflicting MLB runs on ESPN. ABC has mostly high-profile Saturday afternooners.

Flannery's downtown open for all games, me thinks. Rusty Barrel in Westlake has the flags out, looking for WC crowd.

You play three games in group play. 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie. Top two teams (read: points with goal-diff tiebreaker) move on to knock-out rounds (16 teams). Ties mean something and become very regrettable for those who don't advance from group play.

The French and Mexicans are pissed about today's ties and losing out on the full three points. South Africa is pretty happy. I'd guess Uruguay is satisfied.

Heckuva performance after the first 8-10 minutes, where we came out real sloppy and lethargic. Great performance from the goalie Howard. We outplayed em over the final 50-55 minutes. Defense tightened up significantly ... in part thanks to Howard, who was losing it on our defenders early for their sloppy play. Rooney was a non factor. Thought Altidore had the game winner at the 64 min mark.

Great game.

"It's like dating a woman who hates you so much she will never break up with you, even if you burn down the house every single autumn." ~ Chuck Klosterman on Browns fans relationship with the Browns

Watched the second half and just can't get in to soccer or see the appeal of it. Good for the US to tie anyway as a heavy underdog. I pondered them +450 last night to win, but know nothing about soccer and was advised by a buddy not to.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

I agree, the horns have to go. What's the point in those anyway? I guess the rioters had to do something when they weren't allowed to trample and murder opposing fans anymore...

You play to win or lose, at least that's what recent American beliefs are. But you play by the rules given, and to tie against a team you're overmatched against is a victory.

I think that was their strategy, Swerb, late in the game. We were overmatched but tied, went to a defensive strategy, and came away with as many points as they did. Now if we score more goals than England does against Slovenia and Algeria, we win Group C.

So this World Cup thing started on Friday, and I'm supposed to be excited about it.

I know this because ESPN has been telling me for months that I'm supposed to be excited about it. So, if I'm not, there must be something wrong with me. (Or, as the case may be, there's something else wrong with me.)

On Friday, the front page of ESPN.com asked us all, "Do you have goosebumps?"

Unless the range of emotions that induce horripilation (yes, Tiki taught me that one) now includes boredom, the answer to the question is hell and no.

A friend of mine once decided that he would begin to slather mustard on all of his sandwiches despite his aversion to its taste because, as he explained it, the millions of people who like mustard can't be wrong. And after gagging through two bites of a hamburger, he decided that, indeed, they were all wrong.

With this force-feeding of futbol by the Worldwide Leader in Hype, we're all supposed to conclude that the rest of the world can't be wrong, and that we should embrace a game that, through the first few days, has featured scintillating outcomes like 1-1, 0-0, 1-0, 1-1, 1-0, and 1-0.

While some may claim that we tolerate hockey games that end with similar 1-0, 0-0, and 1-1 outcomes, the two sports have one dramatic difference. In hockey, the puck routinely finds itself in position to enter the goal; play-by-play man extraordinaire Mike Emrick manages to make his audience keenly aware of every such instance. In soccer, it's a lot of open-field running and kicking and running and kicking that rarely results in anything worth actually witnessing.

Said one NFL source regarding the World Cup, "I hope DeMaurice Smith isn't watching it. He might ask for 70 percent if this is our competition. It's like watching Ultimate Frisbee played with feet."

Maybe that's why they blow those damn horns for every moment of every game. It gives the fans something to do while waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting for something to actually happen on the field of play.

So now we even better understand the NFL's desire to export true football to other countries. Once they realize that we've whipped together a condiment that tastes a hell of a lot better than mustard, our football -- American football -- will rule the world.

Our message then, to those of you who are falling victim to ESPN's effort to link watching the World Cup to fundamental notions of apple pie and Chevrolet, the true patriot would rebel against the breathless Bristol narratives invoking a 60-year-old U.S.-England match of which only a small handful of us had ever even heard and somehow tying it all back to the American Revolution.

Right now, we need to do two things to our mother country, neither of which entails beating the Brits at the sport they inexplicably love. First, we need to compel one of their biggest corporations to PLUG UP THAT DAMN HOLE.

has featured scintillating outcomes like 1-1, 0-0, 1-0, 1-1, 1-0, and 1-0.

Those scores look like Binary code.

Hockey has hits, soccer not so much. They have guys that get hit and they go down like LeBron.

I like the World Cup, it's something different every 4 years, but soccer just ain't my thing for more than that one month every 4 years. Apparently we have a good and very popular MLS team right here in CLB....

Spin wrote:I agree, the horns have to go. What's the point in those anyway? I guess the rioters had to do something when they weren't allowed to trample and murder opposing fans anymore...

You play to win or lose, at least that's what recent American beliefs are. But you play by the rules given, and to tie against a team you're overmatched against is a victory.

I think that was their strategy, Swerb, late in the game. We were overmatched but tied, went to a defensive strategy, and came away with as many points as they did. Now if we score more goals than England does against Slovenia and Algeria, we win Group C.

No, a victory is a victory. Ties hurt that sport. Huge games being decided by shootouts hurt that sport - all in regard to acceptance in the States. And, the states is really what I'm concerned with.

I have seen some stupid remarks made about soccer in my 20+ years of being a fan ( along with being a fan of football, baseball, hockey, and many other sports), but that Florio article along with some of the responses I have seen about the sport here and on Florio's site are being beyond rediculous.

I get it if you don't want to like soccer. I mean I don't get the "it's a third world sport that everyone can enjoy because it costs nothing" argument as much as I don't get the "you don't understand it...it's a beautiful game" argument from the other side.

It just seems like a lot of comments by American's, me being one as well, come across as we didn't make it, we have our own sports, so we need to ridicule soccer and those who do actually like the sport , especially during the worlds biggest stages for the sport. It's like people are being threatened by its existence.

How about this, if you don't like the sport, or know nothing about it ignore it the best you can, don't watch the games, and enjoy what you do like to watch. Don't go making ignorant comments to those of us who do. I know its a message board, but I sure as hell though this page was for soccer. Just don't come in here then. There is no need to comment.

has featured scintillating outcomes like 1-1, 0-0, 1-0, 1-1, 1-0, and 1-0.

Those scores look like Binary code.

Hockey has hits, soccer not so much. They have guys that get hit and they go down like LeBron.

I like the World Cup, it's something different every 4 years, but soccer just ain't my thing for more than that one month every 4 years. Apparently we have a good and very popular MLS team right here in CLB....

I have season tickets to that good and very popular MLS team here in Columbus (The Crew)....if you would like to come to a game to see what its all about just PM me and you can have my tickets for a game.

I think what you see at one of the games will not be what you think about soccer right now, and that's in the MLS, where the level is not nearly as high as Europe. It's more a physical league. But I could be wrong about what you think about soccer. I'm just going off of the comment above.

indiansfan21 wrote:I have seen some stupid remarks made about soccer in my 20+ years of being a fan ( along with being a fan of football, baseball, hockey, and many other sports), but that Florio article along with some of the responses I have seen about the sport here and on Florio's site are being beyond rediculous.

I get it if you don't want to like soccer. I mean I don't get the "it's a third world sport that everyone can enjoy because it costs nothing" argument as much as I don't get the "you don't understand it...it's a beautiful game" argument from the other side.

It just seems like a lot of comments by American's, me being one as well, come across as we didn't make it, we have our own sports, so we need to ridicule soccer and those who do actually like the sport , especially during the worlds biggest stages for the sport. It's like people are being threatened by its existence.

How about this, if you don't like the sport, or know nothing about it ignore it the best you can, don't watch the games, and enjoy what you do like to watch. Don't go making ignorant comments to those of us who do. I know its a message board, but I sure as hell though this page was for soccer. Just don't come in here then. There is no need to comment.

Where did anyone on this board make any comments about it being a third world sport that doesnt cost anything? No one feels threatened by Soccer, especially the NFL, I think that is part of the point Florio was trying to make when he brought up the NFLPA. Why are people so sensitive about defending soccer? If someone came in to the NFL or NBA forums I would just laugh at them. Hell I hate baseball right now (for different reasons) and no one has felt as if I am ridiculing them when I say I don't like it.

And to your last comment it is damn near impossible to ignore the World Cup if you are a sports fan. I woke up the last two days and it was all that was on, especially on Saturday. I almost watched the entire match to see if I could get in to it after another four year break. Once again, it was just plain boring. Yeah, yeah, yeah... maybe you could just explain how I don't get it like I always hear from Soccer fans.